Stanton's slump continues as Marlins fall to Indians, 2-0

MIAMI He rid himself of the arm guard and helmet in one fluid motion as he departed the batters' box. It was the most synchronized Giancarlo Stanton looked at the plate all series.

With a man on first, two out and Stanton representing the tying run in the eighth Sunday, he swung through a Joe Smith slider that Yan Gomes seemed to catch closer to the Indians' first-base dugout than the plate.

That strikeout, Stanton's second in as many turns, capped a 1-for-11, five-strikeout series that concluded with a 2-0 Indians' win at Marlins Park. Mired in a 1-for-22 skid, Stanton is only one of several protagonists in this season of sputtering offense.

Including starter Scott Kazmir, who held the Marlins to two hits over six innings, four Indians' pitchers combined to allow four hits in the series-clinching victory. After losing the opener 10-0, the Indians limited the Marlins to three runs on 10 hits over the next two.

"That's how it's been all year," said Stanton, after his team finished a 5-5 homestand. "You have your ups and downs. You just have to overcome somehow eventually."

For the sixth time in seven games, the Marlins totaled six hits or fewer. Sunday marked the 13th time an opponent held them to four or fewer.

The 12 strikeouts, including six with at least one on, made this latest performance especially disconcerting. Through their first four games this month the Marlins are averaging 9.75 strikeouts per game, up from 7.8 per game in 26 July contests.

"Our lineup is scrappy," Redmond said. "For the most part we've been able to put the ball in play. We're not getting a ton of hits, but we're making the most of our hits. It seems like when we get guys in scoring position we'll get a big hit and keep the game close. [Sunday] we weren't able to do that."

Stanton, who went 0-for-1 with men in scoring position, is down to .190 (8-for-42) in those situations. The homestand started well enough for Stanton, who strung together three consecutive multi-hit games against the Pirates before the Mets and Indians iced his bat (2-for-23 with one RBI, six walks and eight strikeouts).

"He's gotten hot but hasn't been able to sustain it," Redmond said. "The times he's gotten into some funks they've been sustained funks for more than three or four games. He's just got to keep plugging along. Obviously we need him. When he hits he changes our lineup."

What the Marlins have been able to sustain is their starting pitching. Nathan Eovaldi gave up a run on seven hits over seven innings, giving the Marlins their eighth consecutive quality start. Seventeen times this season the Marlins have gotten zero or one run from a starter over seven or more innings. They've lost five of those games.

Conversely, Indians' starters have turned in 20 such games and the club has lost one of them.

Eovaldi's most impressive moment came in the seventh, when the Indians put two on and advanced them into scoring position for pinch-hitter Jason Giambi. The veteran slugger saw three pitches, two of which hit 100 mph. He swung through the first to make the count 0-2 and popped up the second. Eovaldi then got Michael Bourn on a lineout to right to keep it a 1-0 deficit.

"If he's going to beat me, I want to get beat with my best stuff," Eovaldi said, of Giambi. "I was just trying to locate the ball and give him my best…I felt a lot better with my location [Sunday] than I did my last game."

Eovaldi since giving up six runs on 10 hits over four innings in his first second-half outing at Milwaukee can boast a combined 1.42 ERA his last three times out. He has a 0-1 record over that span to show for it.

"We have to do our job offensively as well," Redmond said. "If we do that, we've got a lot of wins. Our pitchers, wow, have pitched great, tremendous. We just cannot seem to get them the support they need, but we'll keep fighting."